Crossed Wires

[ApfelSeine]

"Alright, follow me," Faye said cheerfully, leading the way out the door and towards the shuttle. "Have you ever been to the south end before?"

 

[Scorpio]

"I've been to most parts of the city that are safe to go to. Games and tournaments lead you everywhere, even to places you normally wouldn't expect," He said coyly, not saying one way or another,.

 

[ApfelSeine]

Faye smiled and nodded in response.


"Well that's good," she said. "Then I'm sure that you already know that the south end really isn't as sketchy as people say that it is."

 

[Scorpio]

"So long as you know what you're doing, yes," He said absentmindedly, "So what do you do outside of that grand old thing we call a school? Any hobbies outside games?"

 

[ApfelSeine]

"Well robotics is the main one," Faye replied. "I help my brother out with a lot of his personal projects too, and I play a couple sports. I'd say that tinkering with robots is the main thing that I like to do though."


She paused, then glanced over at him.


"How about you? What hobbies do you have besides games?"

 

[Scorpio]

"Games mostly. I'vemade a career out of that so I play them a lot," He said. Games in both the very real sense and the games he played with competitors. And of course the gambling he was part of. Lots of games indeed. He chuckled, "So you wnat to become a robotics engineer? Is your father one as well?"

 

[ApfelSeine]

"Yeah more or less," Faye replied, shrugging. "He dabbles in all kinds of robotics and other sciences, some of which even I am not really that familiar with. But I think I'd like to focus on robotics since I find it so fascinating. I'll get a better idea once I'm finished with school though, since I'll be able to learn all about different fields of study."

 

[Scorpio]

"True, the idea of intelligent machines certainly is facsinating. Going to put me out of business if they allow them to play games against humans," He joked with a laugh. He got in the shuttle with Faye.

 

[ApfelSeine]

"People worry all the time about robots putting people out of business," Faye mused as her hand circled one of the poles of the shuttle. "But really, with cybernetic enhancements, it levels the playing field a lot. And I figure that there'd probably always be separate divisions or something, right?"

 

[Scorpio]

"Of course there will be, I was mostly just joking," He assured her as the shuttle took off and moved at lightning speeds.

 

[ApfelSeine]

Faye nodded thoughtfully as she held on to the pole. It was almost unnecessary since the transitions in the shuttle were so smooth, but it was force of habit.


"I always see so many protests on television," Faye remarked. "My brother always turns the television off when they showcase stuff like that, but it's hard to miss the news about it. Some people are saying that it's the big civil rights movement of this age."

 

[Scorpio]

Macrov looked out the window, "I'm not surprised though it is different. Many of the upper crust have enhancements, practically making them half robot. The people who stir this up are almost more worried about the rich getting richer than robots themselevs. Very few actually have the sentience to hurt us anyways." He Said, frowning, knowing his implants made him a target of the opposition, though he had managed to keep them a secret.

 

[ApfelSeine]

"Yeah, I suppose that is true," Faye said, nodding. "I can't imagine what challenges a fully robotic mind would face. It's already so bad with just partially enhanced minds. The feelings are very split towards extremes, so I hope that things don't get too out of hand."


She glanced out the window, noticing that they were nearing her stop.


"The next stop is ours," she added.

 

[Scorpio]

"Wonderul," He said, glad to finally be off a shuttle. He never really liked them and they always seemd to upset his stomach on extended trips, though luckily this one was short enough to not bother him to badly.

 

[ApfelSeine]

"My house is just about a block away," Faye said as the shuttle game to a stop and she stepped off onto a much less pristine street corner than the one that they had boarded the shuttle from.

 

[Scorpio]

Macrov looked around with a raised eyebrow but shrugged, "Well lead on then m'dear, time's a wastin'!"

 

[ApfelSeine]

"Okay," Faye said cheerfully as she led the way down the street. "I'm looking forward to being able to improve my game strategy. I've pondered over a couple, but I'm sure with your experience you know all of the effective ones."

 

[Scorpio]

Macrov laughed, "Yes experience is a good teacher. Statistics will only get you so far- a large part of it is intuition and being able to guess what move will counteract what the opponent is most likely doing. Its a dance of genius really."

 

[ApfelSeine]

Faye nodded thoughtfully.


"That makes sense. The game is likely to differ in respect to who your opponent is," Faye added. "Hearing you talk about it, it's clear that there's a lot of elements that go into it that aren't obvious to an amateur."

 

[Scorpio]

Macrov nodded, "It seems very linear, what with limited pieces and movements; however, there are a thousand different choices and it can take just one to strike at the heart of an opponent's strategy. Its something that I can help, but really just takes lots and lots of practice."

 

[ApfelSeine]

"Well that's alright, I like to study," Faye replied, smiling at him. "I'll learn as much as I can through practice an experience, and I know that your help will allow me to improve significantly."

 

[Scorpio]

"I'm glad you have such faith in me," He said smiling as they neared her house, "Which one is yours exactly anyways?"

 

[ApfelSeine]

"It's this one right here," Faye said, motioning towards her apartment building. She bounded up the steps and used her key card to unlock the door before beginning to make her way up the narrow staircase inside. "It's the first door up these stairs, which is pretty lucky."

 

[Scorpio]

Macrov followed closely, "I would say it is," He said, not having seen this type of apartment before. Very rarely did any high paying tournament, legal or otherwise, happen in anything even slightly plebeian.

 

[ApfelSeine]

"Well, all  the higher up apartments do have an elevator which reaches those floors, but stairs are more reliable anyways. Plus, the first couple of floors have more space," Faye said as they reached the door. She unlocked it with her key card again and opened up the door, stepping into a moderately sized living room. She turned to Marcov with a grin. "Welcome to my apartment. We can set up here, or in my room. My father will be in the lab and probably won't come out until late tonight, so just make yourself at home."